Lighting unit and reflector therefor

ABSTRACT

A lighting unit comprising a box-like housing open at one face thereof, a light reflector having inner reflective surfaces, outer reflective surfaces and reflective side surfaces interconnecting adjacent inner and outer surfaces to define a plurality of spaced recesses, and mounting means within each recess for supporting a light source therein.

United States Patent [191 McCracken 1 I [451 Mar. 19, 1974 LIGHTING UNITAND REFLECTOR THEREFOR [75] lnventor: Alexander Ernest McCracken,Chalfont Saint Peter, England [73] Assignee: Nicol & Andrew Limited,Hillington,

Glasgow, Scotland 221 Filed: Dec.27, 1972 211 App1.No.:318,748

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Dec. 28, 1971 Great Britain .I60232/71 [52] US. Cl 240/5 1.l1 R, 240/103 B [51] Int. Cl.. F21v 7/10[58] Field of Search 240/51." 1l :R, 103 R, 103B [56-] References CitedUNITED STATES PATENTS 2.916.609 12/1959 Barchmannmnl 240/5l.ll R X2,342,570 Biller 240/5l.ll R X 2,331,774 10/1943 Guth 240/51.1l R2,334,005 11/1943 Hoeveler.. 240/51.11 R 3,154,001 10/1964 Zurawski..240/51.11 R X 2,566,076 8/1951 Walsh 240/103 B X 3,043,951 7/1962Tillson 240/5l.1l R

PrimaryExaminer-Jdseph F. Peters, Jr. Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Larson,Taylor & Hinds [57] ABSTRACT A lighting unit comprising a box-likehousingopen at one face thereof, a light reflector having innerreflective surfaces, outer reflective surfaces and reflective sidesurfaces interconnecting adjacent inner and outer surfaces to define aplurality of spaced recesses, and mounting means within each recess forsupporting a light source therein.

2 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures 1 LIGHTING UNIT AND REFLECTOR THEREFOR Thisinvention relates to a lighting unit and particularly but notexclusively to such a unit incorporating a plurality of fluorescenttubes.

Many forms of lighting units incorporating one or more fluorescent tubeshave previously been proposed and in many cases lighting unit housingshave been provided with reflectors. Such reflectors however are normallyfixedly secured to the housing and the necessary electrical power supplywiring connections for the tube or tubes are visible at all times.

An object of the present invention is to provide a lighting unit capableof incorporating a bank of fluorescent tubes and which is easy toassemble or dismantle and which is inexpensive to manufacture.

According to the present invention there is provided a lighting unitcomprising a box-like housing open at one face thereof, a lightreflector having inner reflective surfaces, outer reflective surfacesand reflective side surfaces interconnecting adjacent inner and outersurfaces to define a plurality of spaced recesses, and mounting meanswithin each recess for supporting a light source therein.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way ofexample, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one form of lighting unit; and '1 FIG. 2is a sectional view line llll of FIG. 1.

Referring to the drawings, a lighting unit comprises a flat box-likehousing relatively narrow in depth and made up of a back wall 3, sidewalls 4 and end walls 5. The box-like structure is open on the frontface thereof, the opening being bounded by an inwardly directedperipheral flange 6 extending from each of the side and end walls 4 and5 respectively.

Positioned within the housing is an aluminium reflector 7 polished overits whole surface area and corrugated so as to form a series of flatinner surfaces 8 and parallel flat outer surfaces 9 interconnected byangled diverging side wall portions 10. A series of spaced recesses'l 1is thus formed by each inner surface 8 and its adjacent side wallportion 10. As shown in FIG. 2, a pair of flexible spring clips 12 forsecuring a fluorescent tube 13 is fixedly mounted on each of the innersurfaces 8 of the reflector.

The reflector 7 is flexible and is sprung into position within thehousing to close the open face thereof and is retained in position bythe inwardly directed flanges on the side walls'4 of the housing. Thenecessary wellon an enlarged scale on the known electricalwiringconnections for controlling electric power supply to the tubes areled to the ends of thefluorescent tubes in normal manner through eitherthe end walls 5 of the back wall 3 of the housing. The electricalconnections to the tubes are then concealed by the insertion ofcorrugated end closure plates 14 which are also of polished aluminiumand which, as shown in FIG. 2, have flat outer surfaces 15 designed toabut against the outer surfaces 9 of the reflector 7 and flat innersurfaces 16 which lie within the recesses 11 and parallel to but spacedfrom the inner surfaces 8 of the reflector 7 to define compartments inwhich the electrical connections are contained but concealed fromexternal view.

In thesame manner as the flexible reflector 7, the corrugated closureplates 14 are sprung into position in the housing to be retained by theflanges 6 on the side and end walls 4 and 5 respectively.

The depth of the recesses 11 formed in the reflector 7 is such that thefluorescent tube located in each is housed wholly within its recess andno part of the tube projects outwardly beyond the outer flat surfaces 9of reflector 7. In this way the amount of light from a given lightsource reflected by the reflector 7 to a desired location has been foundto be satisfactorily high. In addition, a bank of fluorescent tubes in alighting unit as illustrated in the drawings is visually pleasing whenlit.

Although in the above described embodiment, fluorescent tubes arereferred to as the light source, it will be readily apparent that otherforms of light source such as electric bulbs can equally well be used.In addition the various dimensions of the reflective surfaces of thereflector can be varied to suit requirements.

What is claimed is:

l. A lighting unit comprising a box-like housing open at one facethereof, a corrugated light reflector located within said housing so asto define a plurality of light source-receiving recesses, said reflectorbeing lightreflective over substantially the full extent of the outerface thereof, and a corrugated closure plate, having an outerlight-reflective surface, located adjacent each end of the reflector,each said closure plate nesting within the reflector to define acompartment within which electrical light-source connections can beconcealed.

2. A lighting unit as claimed in claim 1, in which a peripheral flangeis provided around the open face of the housing, and the reflector andclosure plates are flexible to enable insertion into the open face ofthe housing for retention therein by said peripheral flange.

1. A lighting unit comprising a box-like housing open at one facethereof, a corrugated light reflector located within said housing so asto define a plurality of light source-receiving recesses, said reflectorbeing light-reflective over substantially the full extent of the outerface thereof, and a corrugated closure plate, having an outerlight-reflective surface, located adjacent each end of the reflector,each said closure plate nesting within the reflector to define acompartment within which electrical light-source connections can beconcealed.
 2. A lighting unit as claimed in claim 1, in which aperipheral flange is provided around the open face of the housing, andthe reflector and closure plates are flexible to enable insertion intothe open face of the housing for retention therein by said peripheralflange.